#anna merlan

[the-final-sentence]

Irma made landfall soon after, creating a path of chaos and destruction that was all too real.

Anna Merlan, from Republic of Lies

[desert-oracle]

#115: A DESERT CHRISTMAS

#115: A DESERT CHRISTMAS

From a skeletal homesteader cabin on a cold Mojave night, it’s the annual Desert Oracle Christmas Special. New Mexico writer Anna Merlin joins us to talk about the winter holidays in Santa Fe. New solstice sounds by RedBlueBlackSilver. Become a Patron! Tonight at 10 p.m., from Amboy to Zzyzx on Z 107.7 FM, or streaming from Z1077FM.com or streaming via Tune In or get the free podcast. Merry…

View On WordPress

[thenib]

From Anna Merlan and Mady G in our SCAMS issue. Get yours here!

[exhaled-spirals]

« Conspiracy is a form of American poetry. It is incredibly imaginative, inspiring for many, and captures the essence of the civilisation from which it emerges, namely it’s ill-educated resentment of the world, especially of itself. From before the foundation of the country, Americans have considered themselves victims of some ‘higher power’ which oppresses them and seeks to destroy something essential about them. In the colonial era the oppressor was the native inhabitants, the English Crown, the French... and witches. [...] In the 20th century it was Jews and socialists. In the 21st century the oppressor is the Deep State in all its complex manifestations [...]

[T]he election as President of an arch-conspiracy theorist is perfectly representative of the population. Trump’s only notable skill is his ability to tap into the pervasive victimhood of Americans. But this is enough to maintain him in power. He knows his audience. They live in a vague fear which they attribute to Central American immigrants, or disruptive black activists, or dishonest drug companies, or militant atheists, or the perfidious Chinese. But this is obvious projection. What they really fear is themselves. What actually oppresses them is their own continuing failure to confront their failure as a political entity. Trump helps them celebrate this evasion and they love him for it.

As Anna Merlan says, “... people who peddle lies and half-truths have come to prominence, fame, and power as never before.” No longer can the crazy views prevalent in America be considered as idiosyncratic expressions of freedom of speech. The inmates do have control of the asylum. These are symptoms of mass psychosis. The political system in America may have contributed to this condition, but what contributed to the design of that system as well as the increasing irrationality of American society is something culturally more fundamental. An inherent feeling of victimhood is one way to express it. And it seems to have turned the country into a madhouse. »

— A review of Anna Merlan’s Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power

[st-just]

It’s a truism at this point that each day brings some fresh outrage, ranging from the miserably depressing to the powerfully stupid. We ping-pong from children in disease-ridden concentration camps run by the American government to the president’s baffling Fourth of July Big Boy Tank Parade. We barely emerge from one dumb-ass wave before the next one drenches us all. What I’m saying is, people are also mad about a podcast.

Anna Merlan

[kulturado]

The Story: Vanlife Can Be Cheaper, Weirder, And More Accessible Than Instagram Would Have You Believe

The Writer: Anna Merlan

(photo: Tod Seelie)

[lyssahumana]

[desert-oracle]

#112: ON A COLD DESERT NIGHT

#112: ON A COLD DESERT NIGHT

A new show for Friday night, yes! And on SUNDAY, 12/6/2020, join Ken Layne and Anna Merlan for a Skylight Books virtual event, where we’ll be telling ghost stories and reading something weird from the new book and talking with you, if you choose to talk to us. Virtually, sadly. No whiskey & kissin’. Maybe next time. And we don’t know who “Lockdown Willie” is, either. It just sounded good.

Whatc…

View On WordPress